Mid-Atlantic Region

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Thanks for the link Dave, and nice job.  Do you know if the 10 region chart is published somewhere?

It is not simply because there is no interest in starting people up in a tizzy on something that could change or get tweaked a bit in the coming 9-12 months.

I think we will get a sense of how it will look moving forward, but I think there is a sense of wanting to keep things close to the vest until they can really reveal things ... instead of having half a dozen or more versions (as they change) out there confusing people.

I do know there was one version put out that drew initial concerns and had this entire process put on pause as it went back to committees for more work. Another version was available in January when the conference commissioners looked at it and gave their final approval. That was the version used when things went through in April, but considering more tweaks were already expected and such ... the final version isn't available yet and thus nothing is public.

[gfal5]

MAC Announces Update on Fall 2020

7/10/2020 9:00:00 AM

ANNVILLE, Pa. (Conference News) – The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) President's Council met on Thursday to discuss athletics for the fall of 2020 and has made the following statement:

The MAC intends to pursue fall athletics competition, with each campus formulating plans for resocialization that will comply with local, state and NCAA guidelines. Competition will be limited to MAC institutional members beginning no earlier than September 18, 2020 and with the goal of reaching NCAA minimums in all sports.

The MAC will continue to prioritize the health and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, campuses and communities and therefore will continue to evaluate both internal and external factors and revisit this decision if necessary.

"It is paramount that each campus prioritizes the health of its entire campus community," said Megan Morrison, MAC Executive Director. "I am hopeful that with carefully crafted resocialization plans, athletics, as an integral piece in the co-curricular experience for so many student-athletes and campuses, may be able to happen this fall."

[gfal5]

seems they have changed thier mind and season is cancelled. Not sure what changed?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

seems they have changed thier mind and season is cancelled. Not sure what changed?

I hope you are wondering out of sarcasm.

[gfal5]

of course

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

of course

Phew. So hard to gauge on these things.

[DucksFan02]

https://gomacsports.com/news/2020/7/24/general-mac-suspends-ncaa-competition-for-fall-2020.aspx. 

[DucksFan02]

https://navysports.com/news/2020/8/20/killian-promoted-to-associate-head-coach-wilson-joins-mens-soccer-staff.aspx?fbclid=IwAR39OxX3EyzJgwTCpS6pjmWx_XjJse4HTXiFEyAZ8gPpJ7nJ1Y-LAwy_qu0

Paul was a legendary player at Stevens during an extremely dominant era for the program. He went on to assistant coach at Stevens before joining Navy coach Tim O'Donohue (another former Stevens Coach) in Annapolis. Hats off to a player I used to love watching play/coach, as well as a great person and Stevens alumni. In these depressing times incredible to see such a great former player make such an impact at a huge program. Hoping to see him as a head coach one day (return back to Stevens?  ).

[NEPAFAN]

As we continue down the dog days of winter and quarantine, this is pretty entertaining. Members of the Scranton Soccer team rewatch the 1980 classic against Babson:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccKf9hVRrU

[Ejay]

As we continue down the dog days of winter and quarantine, this is pretty entertaining. Members of the Scranton Soccer team rewatch the 1980 classic against Babson:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccKf9hVRrU

This. Is. Awesome.

[gfal5]

ANNVILLE, Pa. (Conference News) – The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) has announced its plans for fall sport competition in the spring semester. The MAC has developed a pod model that has groups of teams that will compete in a five-week exhibition series from March 27 to April 28 in the sports of field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball.

The conference will not provide a model for cross country or football, however, each institution has autonomy to develop a schedule and compete as they see fit. Also, those who choose to opt-out of the MAC exhibition series for field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball have autonomy to schedule and compete as they see fit.

Schools competing in the MAC pod exhibition series have been paired with a different team each week and the two schools will mutually agree on a date and time during that week to compete.

[Falconer]

Messiah Falcons defeated LVC yesterday afternoon, 2-0, in what was apparently an exhibition game in a greatly shortened spring schedule--the previous post is consistent with what I report. Three more are on the schedule, which appears intentionally to involve only schools within a 2-hour radius, presumably for reasons related to COVID. No fans were allowed to attend, though I understand that policy is under conversation in the conference this week. I have no further details to report.

Regardless, the joy of finally getting back on the field must be considerable.

[gfal5]

ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Soccer closed the 2021 spring season with a 1-0 home loss to the visiting Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks. Before the game, Eastern honored Sam Sutherland for his four years in the program. Sutherland scored the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Frankline & Marshall to send the Eagles to the Sweet 16 in 2018.

The two squads played an evenly matched first half. The visitors had the better of play through the opening ten minutes, and Riley Porter was called on to make a pair of early saves and protect his box. As the half progressed, however, the Eagles gathered momentum and established rhythm and field position through effective play in the midfield and on the flanks. Nik Kokolios had a volley from the top of the box that required a solid save, and the Stevens' defense turned away quality serves on several restarts.

Just after halftime Sutherland had one of the best chances of the second frame following a well-textured pass to the flanks from Gabe Velazquez. The senior winger took the ball on the left side and cut it back to his right foot. His hard-bending cross caught the inside of the back post and spun out.

The Ducks found the lone-goal of the match just before the hour mark. An inswung corner from the left side found its way inside the back post without touching another player.

The Eagles continued to probe for chances, but despite several assertive tactical changes, they were not able to get in behind the last row of Ducks.

With an incredibly young roster, the Eagles finish the spring at 2-2. Coach Brenner and the team are looking forward to welcoming several new faces into the squad for a challenging schedule and full slate of MAC Commonwealth games in the fall.

"Today was a really exciting game to be part of," Coach Breener said after the match.  "I thought both teams played at an extremely high level. We focused a lot on doing the little things better all week leading up to the match, and we did them to perfection throughout the entirety of the game. I'm so proud of this group and all that they have had to overcome these past 13 months."

[Falconer]

The Messiah Falcons won their final spring scrimmage, 1-0 in OT, vs Lycoming last evening. Here's the highlights--the GW is a great shot, not to be missed. https://youtu.be/j44VptIXhu4

The original schedule called for a game vs Hood instead, but owing to COVID Hood was unable to play. Lycoming requested to replace them. 

[DucksFan02]

What is everyone's prediction on how the 2021 season will turn out? My way to early prediction is below:
Freedom: Stevens beats Lycoming in final. Lycoming gets an at large bid to NCAA. (yes I'm biased  )
Commonwealth: Messiah beats Eastern in final. Eastern left looking out of the big dance, by the slightest margin (first 4 out NCAA)

Thoughts??